FPF Publishes Model Open Data Benefit-Risk Analysis

FPF recently released its City of Seattle Open Data Risk Assessment. This Report provides tools and guidance to the City of Seattle and other municipalities navigating the complex policy, operational, technical, organizational, and ethical standards that support privacy-protective open data programs.

Given the risks described in the report, FPF developed a Privacy Maturity Assessment in order to help municipalities around the United States better evaluate their organizational structures and data handling practices related to open data privacy.

SEE MATURITY ASSESSMENT
This Report first describes inherent privacy risks in an open data landscape, with an emphasis on potential harms related to re-identification, data quality, and fairness. To address these risks, the Report includes a Model Open Data Benefit-Risk Analysis (“Model Analysis”). The Model Analysis evaluates the types of data contained in a proposed open dataset, the potential benefits – and concomitant risks – of releasing the dataset publicly, and strategies for effective de-identification and risk mitigation. This holistic assessment guides city officials to determine whether to release the dataset openly, in a limited access environment, or to withhold it from publication (absent countervailing public policy considerations). The Report methodology builds on extensive work done in this field by experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the University of Washington, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and others,[2] and adapts existing frameworks to the unique challenges faced by cities as local governments, technological system integrators, and consumer facing service providers.[3]